Impeller



Mam}! 1965 T. E. BRIDGEWATER IMPELLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July so,1962 Mamh 1965 T. E. BRIDGEWATER 3, 74,697

IMPELLER Filed July 30, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 5 46 36 United StatesPatent 3,174,697 IMPELLER Thomas E. Bridgewater, Elmhurst, Ill. AdamsEngineering Co., 20 E. Burlington Ave, La Grange, Ill.) Filed July 30,1962, Ser. No. 213,369 2 Claims. (Cl. 241-275) The present inventionrelates to a novel crushing apparatus and more particularly to a novelimpact crushing apparatus.

An impact crusher of the type contemplated herein includes an upstandingimpeller structure onto which material being processed is deposited andwhich is adapted to accelerate the material and project the materiallaterally outwardly for engagement with breaker plate means arrangedaround the impeller. The efiiciency of the apparatus is, in part,determined by the degree to which the impeller is capable ofaccelerating the material for projecting the material against thebreaker plate means with a high impact velocity. In addition the overallefiiciency of the apparatus is affected by the maintenance requirementsof the impeller structure.

An important object of the present invention is to provide an impacttype crushing apparatus having a novel impeller structure which isconstructed for minimizing maintenance costs and for more effectivelyaccelerating material being processed whereby to improve the overallefiiciency of the apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description and the accompanying drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a simplified partial vertical sectional view showing anapparatus incorporating features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 33 in FIG. 2;

I FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a portion of the novel impellerstructure of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an impeller shoeconstructed in accordance with features or" the present invention.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated by the same numerals throughout the various figures, acrushing apparatus incorporating features of the present invention isshown in FIG. 1. The apparatus comprises an upstanding cylindricalhousing or shell 12 having a cover 14 removably disposed thereon. Animpeller structure In incorporating features of the present invention ismounted on an impeller shaft 18 suitably supported centrally within thehousing 12 for rotation about a substantially vertical axis. Theimpeller which will be described in detail below is adapted to engagematerial delivered through an opening 20 in the cover 14 and acceleratesuch material and throw the material laterally outwardly for engagementagainst breaker plates 22 mounted around the interior of the housing 12.As will be understood, the desired breaking action occurs upon impact ofthe material being processed against the breaker plates 22.

In order to drive the impeller, an electric motor or other suitableprime mover 24 is mounted adjacent the housing 12. A drive pulley 26 issecured to an output shaft 28 of the motor for driving an endless belt29 which in turn encircles and drives the pulley 30 secured to the lowerend of the impeller shaft 18.

As shown best in FIGS. 2 and 3, the impeller 16 comprises a horizontaldisk 32 suitably secured to a hub member 34 mounted on an upper endportion of the impeller shaft 18. A central distributor unit 36 ismounted on the impeller plate 32 for receiving material to be processeddirected through the opening 20 and initially accelerating and directingthe material outwardly. In addition impeller blade units 38 are mountedon and spaced around the disk 32 for further accelerating the materialto be processed and projecting such material outwardly for impingementagainst the breaker plates 22.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the distributor unit 36 comprises a loweror base disk 40 disposed on the impeller disk 32 and having a ring 42welded to its lower side for projecting into an aperture in the impellerdisk and positively centrally locating the distributor unit with respectto the impeller disk. The distributor unit also includes an upperannular disk 44 spaced vertically above the base disk 40 and having acentral opening 46 therein through which material from the inlet opening20 is adapted to fall. Blade means 43 are secured between and spacedaround the disks 4% and 44. These blade means may be welded or otherwisesecured to the plate members 46 and 44 so that the central distributorstructure 36 may be handled and removed and replaced as a unit.

In the embodiment shown, each of the blade means 48 includes a firstupstanding plate member 50 which is generally parallel to and offsetrearwardly with respect to the direction of rotation of the impellerfrom a vertical plane containing the axis of rotation of the impellerstructure. In addition each of the blade means includes an intermediateupstanding plate member or section 52 extending from the outer end ofthe plate member 50 and inclined forwardly therefrom. The outer end edgeof each of the intermediate sections 52 substantially abuts an edge ofan additional or outer plate member 54 which extends forwardly at agreater angle and is preferably substantially perpendicular to theaforementioned plane as shown best in FIG. 2. Thus each of the blademeans 48 defines a forwardly facing pocket 56 which is adapted to befilled with particles of the material being processed as will bedescribed more in detail below.

Each of the blade units 33 comprises a main body member 58 shown best inFIGS. 2, 3 and 5, which body member is detachably secured to theimpeller disk 32- by means of a plurality of bolts 60. Each body member58 is mounted so that its forward side 62 extends from and substantiallyprovides a continuation of an adjacent blade element 54 and ispreferably even slightly inclined forwardly of the adjacent bladeelement 54 as shown in FIG. 2. Each body member 58 also defines aforwardly facing pocket 64 which is adapted to become filled withparticles of material being processed for protecting the body memberagainst direct abrasion by the material during a crushing operation. Inthe embodiments shown each blade unit 38 also includes an insert 66detachably connected with the main body member 58.

In order detachably to connect the insert 66 with the body member 58, anaperture 68 is formed in the body member 58 for receiving a tongue 70formed integrally with the insert 66. The aperture 68 and the tongue 70extend diagonally outwardly and rearwardly with respect to anintersecting radius of the impeller so that during rotation of theimpeller, centrifugal force urges the tongue 70 agressively into theaperture 68 and precludes accidental disassembly of the insert.

In the embodiments shown, each insert 66 is adapted to overlie andcompletely cover the outer end margin of its associated body member 58and thus provide the outer terminal end of its blade unit. This outerend is usually subjected to the greatest amount of abrasion and wearduring a crushing operation whereby each insert will usually be wornaway faster than its associated body member 58. It is contemplated thatthe inserts 66 may be quickly and easily removed and replacedindependently of their associated body members 53 whereby to reducemaintenance costs.

, During a crushing operation, material to be processed is deliveredthrough the opening 20 in the cover 14 and falls downwardly through theopening 46 in the distributor plate 44 and is first engaged by theelements 50 of the blade means 48. As shown best in FIG. 3, inner edges72 of the elements 50 are beveled whereby the elements 50 are relievedand provided with'a generally triangular configuration for minimizingany possibility of the material becoming jammed and clogging the centralarea within the distributor unit 36. As additional material is deliveredto the impeller, the pockets 56 and 64 become filled and packed withparticles of the material so that such packed material provides surfaces74 indicated by broken lines in FIG. 2 over which subsequent particlesof the material being processed pass as they are accelerated and thrownfrom the impeller. In accordance with a feature of the presentinvention, the blade means 48 and the impeller blade units 38 areconstructed and angularly disposed in the manner previously describedand for arranging the pockets 56 and 64 in a manner which promotesfilling and packing of the pockets and the forming of the surfaces 74with a substantially predetermined configuration. When the pockets 56and 64 are filled with the material, the elements of the blade means 48and the blade unit 38 are effectively protected against directengagement and abrasion by a majority of the material which isprocessed. Furthermore the surfaces 74 are formed with a curvingconfiguration which progressively increases in curvature from theradially inner ends of the blade means toward the radially outer ends ofthe blade unit. When the surfaces 74 are formed in this manner, anoptimum condition is approached whereby the material being processedreadily flows outwardly across the surfaces 74 and at the same time isretained in engagement with the surfaces 74 for'a longer period, As

a result the particles of the material being processed are acceleratedmore efiiciently to higher velocities at the time of departure from theperiphery of the impeller whereby to promote a more effective crushingaction.

While the preferred embodiment'of the present invention has been shownand described herein, it is obvious that many details may be changedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims, 7

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. An impeller, of the type described, which is rotatable in apredetermined direction about an upstanding axis comprising verticallyspaced and substantially axially aligned generally flat lower and upper'disc members, said upper disc member having a'central opening thereinthrough which material to be processedmay be delivered, a plurality ofblade means disposed between said disc members and spaced therearound,each of said blade means defining a forwardly facing pocket forreceiving and retaining a portion of material being processed andextending from adjacent said axis radially outwardly and forwardly withrespect to said predetermined direction of rotation, a third disc memberbeneath and supporting said lower disc member and having portionsextending radially outwardly of said lower disc member, a plurality ofseparate and individually mounted shoe means having forwardly facingpockets on said radially extending portions of said third disc memberand respectively disposed for providing outer end extensions of saidblade means, each of said shoe means including a main body memberextending outwardly and substantially forwardly with respect to saiddirection of rotation, and an insert substantially covering an outerendof said main body member, said insert and said main body memberincluding complementary tongue and aperture means interengaging eachother and extending generally radially for releasably connecting theinsert with said main body member.

2. An impeller structure, of the type described, which is rotatable in apredetermined direction about an upstanding axis comprising verticallyspaced and substantially axially aligned generally flat lower and upperdisc members, said upper disc member having a central opening thereinthrough which material to be processed may be delivered, a plurality ofblade means disposed between said disc members and spaced therearound',each of said blade means defining a forwardly facing pocket forreceiving and retaining a portion of material being processed andextending from adjacent said axis radially outwardly and forwardly withrespect to said predetermined direction of rotation, a third disc memberbeneath and supporting said lower disc member and having portionsextending radially outwardly of said lower disc member,

a plurality of separate and individually mounted shoe means havingforwardly facing pockets on said radially extending portions of saidthird disc member and respectively disposed for providing outer endextensions of said blade'means, each of said blade means including aninner end section on said lower disc member and inwardly of an innermargin of said upper disc member for direct engagement with material tobe processed entering through said central opening, and each of saidinner end'sections having an upper edge extending generally diagonallydownwardly from. adjacent said inner margin of said upperdisc membertoward an inner terminal end of the end section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 72,992,783 Wirth et al July 18, 1961 FOREI'GN PATENTS 688,169 GermanyFeb. 14, 1940

